Mass Effect: Terminus
by TheSPHERE
Summary: 160 years after the reapers were destroyed, a new type of war is about to begin in the milky way galaxy...
1. A new recruit

Disclaimer: The story is purely fan fiction, I do not lay claim to the universe of Mass Effect, it is simply a tribute to Bioware's superb sc-fi series. Happy reading Mass Effect fans.

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**The year is 2346. The galaxies races have lived in relative peace since the reaper war 160 years ago. The galactic Council have rebuilt the citadel and most of the known mass relay network, rebuilding links even to the Terminus Systems. Despite that harmony in the past two decades serious crime has steadily risen and a serious threat to the lives of those living in peace is about to emerge…**

Citadel investigations newest recruit Calren Navesa and the Asari Councilor Layris walked towards the back wall of the Presidium lab, a mirrored wall with desks and video screens along it, save for the far right of it where there was nothing. "Bring up the file we sent you earlier" the councilor requested.

The Turian brought up his omni-tool and activated the file. The blank part of the mirrored wall blinked into life. It had now a red circular locking pad that was an unmistakable centre of a door, and there was a new item on the left side of it; a numbered panel requiring a code. The councilor continued "The file contains a 5-digit code, every day you enter the lab for the first time you'll receive a new one. Enter it now."

The Turian Navesa entered the code, the door lock changed from red to green and they stepped into an L shaped corridor that ran the length of the lab, and headed in the opposite direction to a door which simply said WARNING! EXTREME DANGER.

The councilor spoke as they headed for the door "Very few know that it exists. And that's because it does a lot more than monitor relay traffic." The Turian's mind wandered, he'd been aware that the mass relay network was completely under Citadel control and there was a command centre somewhere, or at least, that's what everyone assumed. It was basically shrouded in secrecy, as it should be. This must be it, he thought when he digested the Councilor's words.

They approached the door and stood motionless as they were scanned for a few seconds. A computer generated voice informed them they were free to pass. "Authorisation confirmed" said the voice as their names and screenshots appeared at the top of the door. They entered a smaller room with two armed guards, one Turian, the other Salarian. There was a door on the right this time which seemed to have no locking pad in the centre. They stood next to it, and were scanned again. The locking pad appeared, the door opened, no VI voice announced their approved passage this time. There was a pitch black room in front of them where an Asari appeared to great them.

"Good morning Councilor."

"Good morning Programme Specialist. I'd like to introduce you to our new employee, Detective Navesa."

"Nice to meet you Detective, I'm Programme Specialist Aysea"

"It's nice to meet you too Aysea."

The Asari councilor spoke again "You can take it from here, Aysea."

The newly acquainted Asari led the way, heading for a door on the left of the room, stepping through it followed closely by the Turian, as the Councilor hung back and stood at the doorway. She looked ahead at Navesa and thought he'd be impressed with his department's conjunctive operation workspace.

The room was huge, and dark, save for the lights of the headsets and the glow of screens either side of the room. There were 3 rows of desks with omniscreens, each manned by an operative from the 4 council races. To the right of the room were four huge screens, each currently showing a different news channel from in and around council space.

Between the screens and the rows of desks was the brightest light, and the most eye-catching sight for any newcomer. Detective Navesa was no different as he was drawn towards it; A huge ball-shaped hologram of what quickly became apparent was the milky way galaxy, lit up in many locations with blue glowing objects, which with a closer look he could see were mass relays. Data streams sped out of them in a variety of colours, recording and downloading information to the manned terminals around the room. Aysea turned to the Turian, who was indeed impressed. "Detective Navesa, welcome to the SPHERE ."


	2. Asari fugitive

**Six months later**

She was psychotic, sadistic, and hungry for vengeance. The prison was small in terms of inmate numbers, but large and difficult to break out of without serious help. Serious help though, was exactly what she got, and now she was free. And she couldn't wait to get hold of the person that she despised the most, the person that had recently claimed number one spot on her hit list…..

Navesa had been woken one hour earlier than he had intended, a call from work meant that he was already on route to the Citadel from Oma Ker. He had bought the luxury home on the Turian colony a few years ago, wanting a clean break from Palaven when and if he left his job as a Police Detective. He was pleased to have spent some time at home, but had already come to realize his company's citadel apartments may be a much better idea in the near future. For a start he wouldn't need to commute aboard a commercial ship if the Serpent, Citadel Investigations' own ship, wasn't around to pick him up.

A skycar to work taking five minutes would be nice.

He found a quiet spot on the ship and read the files sent to him concerning the new case. It had already started to filter through on news channels, which probably meant there was little hope of catching her quickly. Alerting the public meant that they'd need help bringing her back in. The terrorist Maixa Sideris, the Asari that attempted to murder a councilor, one of the most notorious criminals of the modern era, broken from prison on the Citadel.

He was sent updates from the prison itself as his colleagues searched it for clues. There were two forensics, Dasun, a Salarian, and Viale, a Quarian. His Vice Detective, a Human female named Cruz, was also present.

The escape itself was pretty clever. Someone had remotely hacked the prison's systems and unlocked Sideris' cell, then every door on the way out as they appeared in front of her. A few C-Sec guards were startled and assaulted by what they thought was a colleague as she made her way through. They hadn't realized there was a problem with the system until it was too late, Sideris was gone and presumed to have left the Citadel. Despite hundreds of attempts successfully hacking this prison system had never been achieved, it'd take one incredibly clever and skilled individual to pull it off. And to catch Sideris, they may have to figure out who this hacker was.

C-Sec had a shuttle waiting for Navesa immediately on his arrival at the Citadel, taking him straight to the lab. Dasun, Cruz and Viale were back from the prison, the lab's only other occupant being the Turian Secretary, Ceraiy Lakrine. Ceraiy clearly liked Navesa but was always professional and never flirted, but then, Turians found that easy to do. "Good morning Detective" she said with a smile. "Good morning Ceraiy, what do you have for me?" "I've broken down the case file how you like it, it'll be on your private terminal now." For Navesa, that meant the suspect's history, associates and law correspondence would all be completely separate.

As soon as Cruz saw Navesa entering the forensic part of the lab, she came running with more shocking news.

"There's been another development, Detective. We've just gotten word Liara T'Soni has been abducted." Navesa didn't immediately sense the connection between the terrorist psychopath, and the well respected and admired Doctor, an honorary Ambassador of the Asari government. Though then again, Sideris tried to execute the Asari Councilor, so why not Dr. T'Soni? "OK, tell me more." "She was the last person to visit Sideris in prison three months ago, it's too close to not be related."

"What do we know about the abduction?"Navesa asked, curious and concerned of the wider problems. "She was in a region we call Europe on Earth. She was there visiting a friend, who managed to escape the attack and inform the Alliance." The Turian set out the immediate targets. "We need to speak to the Ambassadors friend, and find out why she visited Sideris in prison. Do we have any leads on the prison hacker?" "It'll take some time to figure out how the system was hacked and where from, we should start with associates."

Navesa opened his terminal for a quick look before he decided where they should head in the Serpent. Sideris was from a bad family with a history of murder and little regard for Council laws and ideals. An aunt of hers was the leader of a notorious mercenary group called Eclipse before the Reaper War of 2186; her two sisters were always in trouble on Thessia until they were killed in a drug war in the Terminus systems. It is alleged that Maixa exacted her revenge on her sisters' killers by drugging them with their own product and spacing them one by one out of airlocks. She is also alleged to have been in a drug cartel on Ilium, but nothing concrete.

Finding known associates of hers wouldn't be easy.

Sideris had given no-one up during her trial, spoke nothing of who she was working for; she also had only two visitors the whole time she was locked up. Around 7 months ago her first visitor was Reva T'vone, a Transport Security Chief for Asari High Command. Navesa made a note of her name.

"We're about to head to the ship, Ceraiy. Could you speak with High Command and locate Reva T'vone for us?" "Of course Detective." The Presidium lab was often where the team worked up leads, the ship was where they discussed strategy; though as the ship had its own gadgets and forensic equipment, it had been nicknamed the skylab by its Volus Technician Dar. Although based mostly on one level, the ship had a lot of features. In the cargo bay there was a medical pod, a sky pod, and a cell that could house up to four suspects; upstairs a forensic lab, crew quarters and a master cabin, a galaxy map, and a command centre with a vidcom. It was sleek, fast and it was always shiny black. It was named the Serpent after the nebula the Citadel called home.

Dar was responsible mainly for the computerized systems of the ship; he was also pretty useful when it came to communications, mathematics and terrible jokes. The Pilot was named Yaniv, who used to fly cruisers in the Turian military. Viale had worked with Citadel Investigations for 8 years and was previously an exploration scientist for the Quarian government, seeking out new materials and technology for the rebuilding of Rannoch. Dasun was a skilled forensic with six years as an employee, like a lot of Salarians he was at home with Science. He grew up on the Salarian colony of and made a name for himself at a remote but famous University there.

Cruz had the most diverse background. She lost her parents at a very young age and made her living as a mercenary thief and an arms dealer before using her expertise for the right side of the law with the Human Colonies Crime Agency. She joined Citadel Investigations at the exact same time as Navesa when the previous Detectives were killed in a ship explosion. Cruz credits her transformation to her ex boyfriend who persuaded her to give up the bad life for something more rewarding. Although they had drifted apart, she was more than happy with her current life. She and the Detective discussed the way forward.

"If these events are related then we need to work out the quickest way to track down Sideris" stated Navesa, Cruz offering a wide picture of possibilities. "Initial Alliance reports suggest T'Soni was grabbed by a few armoured assailants so Sideris didn't pull this off on her own. She either got as far away from council space as she could or headed straight to Earth." The only other possibility at this point was that T'Vone could be a target too, but that was speculation. "High Command will see to it that T'Vone is safe, the quickest route to Sideris is probably on Earth." Viale headed off to contact the Alliance hierarchy; the course for the Human homeworld was set.

On route to Earth, Navesa took time to chat with the Serpent's only Human. "How often do you go to earth Cruz?"

"I actually lived there til I was about seven, my parents decided to leave for a colonial life. I used to sit and wonder how things may have turned out if we had stayed."

"It must have been difficult for you."

"I don't think about it as much now. Michael helped me a lot with it; looking back just makes you feel worse most of the time. I've been back a few times since, about three times since they died. Have you been?"

"No, I have always wanted to visit though. From what I've read, it has such diverse culture. And I have to admit I've always wanted to visit Europe, and see where the reapers were defeated."

"Citadel Park! I've never been there either. Why don't we go, or fly over it?"

Citadel Park was the biggest tourist attraction on Earth for visiting aliens and natives. The scene where legend has it the reapers chose to begin their creation of a new reaper by harvesting the Human race; the Citadel was moved above Earth, the dead were transported up to it via a beam. Thanks to an alliance of the galaxies races, led by the legendary and fearless Commander Shepard, the reapers never added to their ranks. They were destroyed by a huge weapon they called the crucible; Shepard activated its power and ended their cruel and cyclical destruction of advanced organic life.

Shepard was killed in the blast himself, his goal accomplished. He and one other brave alliance soldier, Admiral David Anderson, were the only two to make it onto the Citadel alive. Now statues of both men stood next to a different kind of beam that stretched right up from the same spot the Citadel one began to Earth's outer atmosphere, lit up on the yearly anniversary of the final battle. The biggest victory ever achieved by any organic life forms, gone but never forgotten by the millions that came to pay their respects. Navesa wanted to be one and he was certain his shipmates would too.

The Citadel ship was given preliminary permission by the Alliance to fly over the park; it was huge and there was more than enough room to maneuver a ship. The shell of the warship that did most to win the freedom of life for the galaxy sat at the top of the hill at the Park's entrance.

The Normandy: the first ship to travel through the Omega 4 relay and actually return; the ship that once flew under the command of Anderson and later Shepard. The ship that changed the technology of council ships forever. Stripped of its drive core and weapons systems, the ship was now a museum, with VI's of former crew members speaking of their experiences aboard it. It also had screens showing many of the hundreds of movies made about Shepard and the crew since the war ended.

Before the crew saw the historical park they were to head to coordinates a couple of hundred miles away. Yaniv declared "The Alliance are sending us to a region called Ireland where we'll find Brian Moreau, the witness to the abduction."

Ireland's west coast is still very green; miles and miles of lush grass that rolls into white cliffs and small islands. It was a bright but cool morning when T'Soni had been grabbed; there was barely a soul in the few square miles around them. The ship touched down to find an Alliance vessel and 5 shuttles present, Brian Moreau being treated for injury by his colleagues. Navesa approached a man in an Alliance uniform and introduced himself. "We're from Citadel Investigations, I'm Detective Navesa." "Admiral Hans Wesfelder, pleased to meet you Detective. I wasn't certain that anyone would actually come from the Citadel."

"Can we speak with Brian Moreau? We're eager to find out what he knows."

"Certainly Detective, The more we have working on this the better."

Brian had known Liara his whole life and would be pretty shaken up; she was like an aunt to him and he loved her company, hearing all the old stories about his great grandfather. He had been shot in his left arm and was being treated by medics. Navesa headed over with Wesfelder and Cruz.

"Brian Moreau?"

"The one and only"

"We're from the Citadel. I'm detective Navesa, this is Vice Detective Hernandez. Could you tell us what happened here?"

"Yeah we were walking toward the cliffs when a shuttle appeared out of nowhere and ambushed us; they surrounded Liara, and fired at me. I got this scratch for my troubles."

"I imagine they didn't want a witness. But you're alive."

"Hell yeah I'm alive, I ran. Liara yelled at me to run. I knew she was right. Lucky for me I know the area pretty well and I managed to make it down to the shore. I swam for safety then called the Alliance when I saw the shuttle leave."

"Did you get a good luck at the attackers, or the shuttle?"

"They wore red armour; they weren't big. I saw no faces as they all wore helmets with black visors. If I had to guess I'd say they were female and probably Asari. The shuttle was a nondescript dark blue, the type you see tons of."

"You must know Dr. T'Soni well for her to visit Earth and spend time with you."

"She isn't visiting Earth, Detective…..she lives here."

Liara had helped so much with the rebuilding of Earth and the Citadel she ended up with an apartment in London and did a lot of work for Alliance Intelligence. She was one of the few remaining members of Commander Shepard's crew and still looked out for the great grandson of Jeff, the Normandy's pilot.

"She lives here?"

"Yeah, As well as having a place on the Citadel."

Navesa asked Brian if Liara had seemed troubled, he said they went to Ireland for a little peace and quiet. He said Liara seemed unusually distant but she never told him anything about her work; preferring to talk about his own role as an Alliance officer, or tell him funny stories about his great grandfather and the jokes he made even when they stared death in the face. Brian suggested to Navesa he speak with Wesfelder and find out more about his and Liara's work. She had obviously never mentioned Maixa Sideris to Brian.

The Alliance shuttles prepared to take Brian back to the substation in London and invited the Serpent's crew. Hopefully they would find out some real information there; and somewhere to narrow down the search for the red armoured abductors. Navesa wondered if there were any rogue earth factions that would want T'Soni to ransom her though that seemed unlikely. As Wesfelder was keen to stress, humanity had really taken Liara to their hearts and viewed her as one of earth's treasures. There would be much sadness if she wasn't quickly found and it went public.

As the substation was close to Citadel Park, the Serpent got permission to fly over it. It was a beautiful sunny day in London and the park was full of tourists. They were greeted to a stunning view of the statues and the Turian built warship, the ship that revolutionized FTL travel. Aliens and Humans lined up to have their picture taken in front of the huge statues.

As they admired it and used their imaginations to picture the battle with the reapers, Yaniv informed them that the cargo bay door had opened. Above the park, bemused tourists looked up as a Volus used his omni-tool to amplify his voice. "ATTENTION EARTH CLAN. WE ARE ABOUT TO ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL. WE ARE HARBINGER. WE ARE YOUR SALVATION THROUGH DESTRUCTION, WE …" until Cruz grabbed hold of Dar and shut the door. "You must want to get spaced Dar, cut that out!" Dar chuckled away at himself, "Oh, Earth clan." Thankfully there were no complaints.

A skyscraper with the words I-NOVA on the side contained a top secret substation on its top floor. This was where Liara T'Soni did her work with Alliance and council space intelligence services. The Serpent touched down on the top and Navesa was shown around by Wesfelder. T'Soni had her own office, one of ten departments in the substation, which was deceptively big. In the other departments there was intelligence gathering for separate Alliance programmes including the marine N7, and a centre for monitoring and vetting all incoming ships to the Sol system.

Navesa and Cruz were shown Liara's workspace and her networking station, and found that she had a drone named Glyph. "Even I don't know the full extent of Liara's work; so much of it is classified, even to us. You may be better off asking the drone." "My name is Glyph, how may I be of assistance?" "We are from Citadel Investigations, Glyph. We'd like to know who would want to abduct Liara, and wonder if she has anything on Maixa Sideris." "Dr. T'Soni is very important and her not being here will cause great sadness." said the drone.

Glyph brought up a file on Maixa Sideris; a little about her history, a lot more about her imprisonment and trial. There was some information that she had ran with a mercenary group that call themselves the Red Asari. There was also an intercepted message dated a few months ago regarding Asari ship security. Everything else was encrypted and not even Glyph had the passkeys required to open it all up.

Brian had been checked out by medics but was led into the room by a female alliance officer who then left. Navesa and Cruz began to work up their leads. "So Brian believes that the abductors were small, not men, possibly Asari; Hans do you have any intelligence on who it could be?" "We're working frantically but have just about ruled out every group on Earth. We're monitoring every shuttle and ship port on the planet and screening every tourist that has entered via a commercial ship." Navesa enlightened the Admiral "We believe the fugitive Maixa Sideris could be behind it; the file on her here mentioned a mercenary group named the Red Asari – we need to look into them."

Navesa contacted the council to update them of the situation. Posya Layris knew Liara well and would be very concerned at the situation. The Citadel's Spectre's would no doubt be working on her disappearance with urgency. Councilor's Layris and Thomas appeared on vidcom to address everyone. "Admiral Wesfelder, Detective Navesa, I'm very much hoping you have news on Dr. T'Soni" said the Human, Hans replying "We have information from Officer Moreau, Councilor. We can draw up images of the abductors based on his witnessing of the event."

Navesa spoke to the Asari councilor "Dr. T'Soni has a file on Sideris; a lot of it is classified even to the alliance. It mentions a drug organization called the Red Asari, are you familiar with them?"

"I've heard the name but don't know a great deal about them. They've never left the Terminus Systems to my knowledge. Send us what you have and our contacts there will hopefully provide us intel. Admiral I trust your security has been tightened on Earth so that this group can't escape?"

"Affirmative, Councilor; we're screening every tourist to have entered any of our regions in the last few weeks. Every ship leaving for the colonies or council space will be searched thoroughly."

Layris and Thomas ended their transmission, but not before the Asari sidestepped Navesa's rhetoric concerning encrypted files. The Detective hoped they had enough to go on, and asked Brian to describe in detail the armour his attackers wore. "Like I said earlier, they wore red and black. Black visors on their helmets completely covering their face. Although they had something on their chests, also black. Maybe a creature or a gang sign, I don't know." Glyph used a terminal with software to create an image of the mercs, the files immediately sent to Alliance chiefs and the Citadel.

There wasn't much left for Navesa and Cruz to do; they thanked Wesfelder and Brian and as a group they vowed to share any information they received. Confident that T'Soni must still be on Earth and that the Alliance would be able to track her down, the Serpent's crew would be heading to their next solid lead; Sideris' next possible target Reva T'Vone on Thessia.

They were almost there when they received a message from the Citadel. Numerous agencies had reviewed the images of the red armour and said the likelihood of it being the Red Asari was high. Spectre's working in the Terminus systems were to find out as much as they could about them.

**THESSIA**

Reva T'Vone had waited patiently for the arrival of Navesa and his colleagues at her office near the spaceport. She greeted them as welcome visitors. "Welcome, Detective, I trust your journey to Thessia was a pleasant one." She seemed very relaxed and calm, and there wasn't any security around her office. "It was pleasant, Officer T'Vone, it's always nice to visit Thessia, and it's such a beautiful place." Reva smiled and offered a Thessian herbal drink, or something stronger, if Navesa preferred. "I'll try the herbal drink, thank you."

Reva used her intercom to ask an assistant for drinks.

Navesa was eager to ask a lot of questions to his friendly host. "So what do you do exactly?" "I handle security for High Command and other Asari ships. I work mainly between here and Ilium, I was just there yesterday." Ilium was the first world to re-establish a mass relay link to council space from the terminus systems around 90 years ago. It had taken some time for the council to agree to it, due to the legality of narcotics there and a concern that it wouldn't be cost effective rebuilding the relay. In the end they set up new tax laws for trade between the planet and council space, which of course paved the way for more and more requests for relays to be re-opened throughout the lawless space region. Today most of the relays that were active before the reaper war are functioning.

The drinks for Navesa and Cruz arrived from a smiling Asari. The Detective was keen to learn more from Reva "So is that the reason you visited Sideris in prison?" Reva sat back a little and replied "There was an incident with one of our ships. We didn't catch the infiltrator; they were foiled by someone believed to be an agent of the shadow broker. Everything about the attempt to take the ship reminded me of Sideris. I went to question her to see if she knew anything about it, who it could be. She told me nothing of course, I should have known."

"So do you have any ideas who may have wanted her out?"

"Probably the same person that tried to board that ship; Sideris used to run in drug gangs, then seemed to go off radar for a while, then seemingly became a terrorist or something. Other than that I don't know."

"Liara T'Soni was the only other person that visited Sideris, we believe she's been targeted by whoever is behind all of this. Is there any danger for you?"

Reva was relaxed. "I didn't have a heated exchange with Sideris; I don't see why they would target me. Dr. T'Soni is an important figure for the Asari, close to the council. Has something happened to her?" Navesa was open in his response. "It isn't public knowledge yet but it won't stay out of the news for long. She was abducted soon after Sideris escaped."

"Goddess that is a shock; I'm guessing you believe it happened so closely it has to be related. Where did this happen?"

"T'Soni was with a friend who managed to escape the attack on Earth; we believe it could be a group that call themselves the Red Asari. Do you know anything about them?"

"A little; they're drugs traffickers from the Terminus systems. Why would they go to earth to abduct someone?"

"There is the belief that Sideris used to be one of them. Maybe they were just paid a lot of money for the job but something much bigger has to be going on."

"Sideris tried to assassinate our councilor, her motives have never really been discovered; only theory exists."

"And that theory is that someone unhappy with tax and export laws thought they could profit from her death?"

"Yeah I think that was widely believed; the Hanar were supposedly unhappy about a lot of things. There was a crazy rumour that a Drell from Kahje paid Sideris to kill the councilor" Reva started chuckling as she got to the end of her sentence.

"Which Drell would that be?"

"Oh I don't know, Detective. It was just a crazy rumour about the Drell that supposedly paid her then panicked about it and alerted the council. They got Sideris just in time."

Navesa's mind raced. He thought of the file on Sideris' prosecution, how she was caught. An alert had gone out that was to be an attempt on the councilor's life, a Drell named Raeth Qiavos came forward and divulged that an Asari had approached him offering money for murder. Sideris was caught on an Asari council ship just in time, armed and ready to pull the trigger.

Maybe there was more to the circumstances than meets the eye. Navesa wrapped things up. "Thank you, Officer; you've been a great help. If you think of anything else, please let us know. And be vigilant, we can't rule out Sideris coming after you."

"Oh, the last place she'll come is Thessia. She's a terminus girl that one. If I'm going to feel unsafe it'll be on Ilium. I might just stay away until you catch the bitch." She laughed again, bringing warm smiles to Navesa and Cruz as they headed for the door, saying their goodbyes. "Thank you and good luck Detectives."

They had new leads; one that the Red Asari were actually drug traffickers, the other that a Drell may have been responsible for the attempt on councilor Layris' life. "We need to find out everything about the Drell who helped foil Sideris, we need to read the case file again and see if anything has been missed" said Navesa as they found a quiet corridor. Cruz was intrigued "If he paid the assassin, he must have had one hell of a change of heart."

They caught up with their shipmates in the spaceport, before boarding the Serpent and setting a course for Kahje.


End file.
